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| Lock and Key | 
 enlarge | Author: Sarah Dessen
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Category: Book
List Price: $18.99
Buy New: $10.00
You Save: $8.99 (47%)
New (31) Used (15) Collectible (4) from $9.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  53 reviews
Sales Rank: 695
Media: Hardcover
Reading Level: Young Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 432
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.3 x 1.6
ISBN: 067001088X
EAN: 9780670010882
ASIN: 067001088X
Publication Date: April 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
I separate Dessen's books into two categories... April 23, 2008
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Sarah Dessen has 8 books published, and as a true Dessen fan, I've read them all. I sort of separate her books into two categories, though. In one category, there's Keeping the Moon, This Lullaby, The Truth About Forever, and Just Listen. In the other one I place That Summer, Someone Like You, Dreamland, and Lock and Key. What's the difference between these two groups? I'll try to explain...
The first category I mentioned are the feel-good books. The protagonists are messed up in a certain way, certainly, but there is a spark of happiness and fun and really satisfyingly content endings where relationships and situations are tied up in a happily-ever-after knot. These books are kind of a break from reality, in a way, because who ever meets guys as wonderfully unique and vivid as Norman, Dexter, Wes, and Owen? I mean, I wish!
The second category, are the books where Dessen really explores dark places. And even though things end on good notes, the problem resolved... there's not the magical right-ness and the sparkly feeling. It's weird because in these books, the girl is usually with the guy in a relationship, like, mid-way in the book, and there's not the wonderful sealed-with-the-first-kiss ending. Instead, things get sour... Macon, Rogerson.
So GET LOCK AND KEY! Even if it's the darker category, it's still written by SARAH DESSEN. And that means it's awesome, just because she wrote it. But let me tell you right now. It's not The Truth About Forever. It is NOT Just Listen. It's the book that we read because it's by Sarah Dessen and we're fans so we read anything she writes... but we know the real reason we're fans in the first place is because of the happier books.
So some little bits of info as a closer...
Ruby is independant, wary, and determined. She's at her core a sweet person who, over time, has built up many walls.
Surprisingly big cameo by Rogerson... he's still scarier than Hades.
Actually, a WHOLE lot of cameos -- WAY more than in any other of her books. We see Mallory, mention of Owen and Annabel, Remy's mom, Denise and Charlotte, Kristy and Burt... and maybe even more I can't remember!
 Not the one? May 9, 2008
4 out of 9 found this review helpful
I just could not get into this book. I'm a huge fan of Just Listen so I was expecting a lot from this book. The story seemed to drag, but then tied together a little to quickly in the end. I never truly felt any sympathy for Ruby and I didn't understand why there wasn't really any sort of ending.
I've read every other Sarah Dessen book and while I may not be fond of them all this was just one I will never read again.
 Wonderful, typical Dessen April 23, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
So I think every bibliophile has one or two authors that can do no wrong. Sarah Dessen is one of my two, and Lock & Key didn't disappoint. Ruby is a typical Dessen character. She thinks she can handle everything on her own. She doesn't need her mother. It's not like her Mom has ever been all that reliable anyway. She just needs to remain cool until she turns 18 and is legally an adult. Of course, Ruby doesn't count on the pipes bursting at the kitchen sink or the dryer breaking, forcing her to hang a clothesline in the kitchen where her nosy landlords, the Honeycutts, can see it. The Honeycutts turn her in and big sister Cora is suddenly back in her life after 10 years. A lot has changed for Cora in 10 years. She's graduated from college, is a public defender, and is married to a wealthy internet entrepreneur named Jamie. Ruby can't believe this is Cora's life, and she wants no part of it. But then she meets Nate, the friendly, dependable boy next door, and her brother-in-law is just so nice. Her new private school isn't as bad as she thought, and she even manages to find a job at the mall that she likes. Soon Ruby learns that it's nice to be needed, and it's okay for her to need someone every once in a while too. Now if only we could all be so wise at 17 and learn those most important life lessons. I think that's what I love about Dessen's characters. They're not perfect. They don't all wear designer clothes, have great popularity, have the best boyfriends or even the best grades, but they are certainly all smart. As teenagers they somehow manage to learn lessons that a lot of adults never comprehend, and by extension, all of Dessen's young readers learn the lessons too.
For additional reviews and reading suggestions, see my site.
What is family? April 26, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
What is family? That is the question posed to seventeen year old Ruby Cooper on her first day at the exclusive Perkins Day School. Sent to live with her estranged older sister and her husband after it is discovered her mother disappeared two months earlier, Ruby's life is turned upside down. Ruby has lived an almost transient lifestyle with her mother, believing that her older sister, Cora, abandoned her without a second glance ten years earlier. Now that she has been reunited with Cora, Ruby is forced to face some truths about their past and their biological family. Along the way, she also learns that a person can have many families over time.
At the heart of nearly every Sarah Dessen novel is the story of a girl and a boy, and in Lock and Key, that boy is Nate Cross. Nate is the next-door neighbor of Cora and her husband Jamie, and the night that Ruby moves in, Nate hides the fact that Ruby was trying to run away from Jamie. As the novel develops, so does the relationship between Nate and Ruby, though Dessen shares the emotional connection rather than the physical. And while Nate rescues Ruby a few times at the beginning of the novel, his life falls apart while hers begins to come together. In the end, it is Ruby and Cora who must rescue Nate.
It is not plot, but characters, that drive Dessen's novels. Her gift is in creating characters that the reader can identify with. This is certainly true of Ruby, who feels out of place in the perfect life her sister has created, and more at home in the large, anonymous crowds at her previous high school. Teens struggling to find their place in the world will relate to Ruby's desire to control even one aspect of her life. On the whole, I found this to be a satisfying, engaging read, with the quality Dessen fans have come to expect.
it's only getting four stars because it's Sarah Dessen May 2, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I've really of Sarah Dessen's book. And I've loved most of them, actually, I've loved all but two of them (That Summer and Someone Like You). While Lock and Key isn't going to fall into the favorite category (Just Listen and This Lullaby and The Truth About Forever) it will fall into the love category (Dreamland and Keeping the Moon).
Ever since I heard about SD coming out with a new book I was eagerly awaiting the release date. I devoured all of SD's book within a month and it had been awhile since then. While I can't say I was disappointed by Lock and key, I will say that the book was a bit of a let down.
The main reason I disliked the book was that I felt like SD was losing her touch. We've heard all of this before. The abused boyfriend (Rogerson is hit by his Dad in Dreamland), the distant mother (uh, take your pic), the new town/new friends motif (Keeping the Moon comes to mind). And while, yeah, these are typical things to write about, I felt that it was just too familiar because with SD's writing it's all intertwined. Rogerson has a fair sized part in the book, Kristy and Wes's brother show up, Annabel and Owen are both mentioned, Barbara Starr shows up.(Dreamland, The Truth About Forever, Just Listen, This Lullaby, respectively.) SD's books would make for a very short game of 6 degrees and while I'm not saying all their plot lines are original, I think that it's important to keep every different in order to, well differentiate the books.
While I thought with the story lines SD was losing her touch, she still shines through with being able to weave multiple story lines together. Not a lot of authors manage the many subplots of life and hit it on target. I wish the story line with Ruby's dad had been closed up, rather than the story line with her mother. To me, it should have ended with her running away. For me, that was enough. But, I felt like her Dad might have actually wanted a relationship with her or some sort.
Ultimately, I liked the book, I just wish it hadn't felt so familiar.
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